The Design and Assessment of a Hypermedia Course on Semiconductor Manufacturing.

This article describes the design and evaluation of IC-HIP, a multimedia course on integrated circuit manufacturing (Schank & Rowe, 1992). Subjects browsed the course via standard hypermedia links or linear paths. Learning effects were assessed based on navigation method (hyperlinks vs. path), prior knowledge (low vs. high), and other factors (e.g., subjects' stated interests in semiconductors, and kinds and number of course nodes viewed). Effects of navigation method, prior knowledge, and pre-instruction interest on nodes viewed (by media type and topic area), were also assessed. Results suggest that subjects who browsed via hypermedia links tended to more often bridge topic areas rather than explore them in depth, but there were little or no learning differences by knowledge or navigation group, and neither prior interest nor nodes viewed (by number, topic area, or media type) were correlated with learning. These results and future work are discussed.